Me: Hey, guys! I was in a huge writing mood this week!
Alexia: Seriously, she was keeping track and giving KillingDesire updates on her percentage done every five minutes.
Ulquiorra: I'm glad I made an appearance this chapter or the story would pretty much go to waste.
Grimmjow: ~.~ Hey, what's that supposed to mean!?
Me: T_T I have to agree, Ulqui-cielago is the second-most important character in this story.
Grimmjow: -.-' What about me?
Me: Third.
Alexia: Aw, it's okay, Kit-Kat (hugs Grimmjow)
Ulquiorra: (Charges cero)
Me: ^_^' Um…we're having some technical difficulties at the moment, but it'll be ok, I promise…? ULQUIORRA, YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO USE CERO OSCURAS IN MY HOUSE!
Ulquiorra: (sighs, then goes outside and dispels cero into sky) T_T Are you satisfied?
Me: -.-' Yep, that's gonna raise a few questions (sighs) Well, while I get this sorted out, you guys can read the sixth chapter. Enjoy~
"…Be alright?"
"Stop worrying, Grimmjow, you're starting to irritate me."
"But—"
"Grimmjow."
"What?"
"Would it hurt you to shut up?"
"…Yeah."
I groaned, cracking my eyes open. The first thing that came into viewers a blinding light, making me shut my eyes again. I cleared my dry throat and tried to speak.
"Wh—" I coughed out, not able to even start. My eyes adjusted to the bright light and allowed me to open my eyes fully. "What's…going on?" I managed to croak out.
"Alexia!" Grimmjow exclaimed. I turned my head in the direction of his voice and saw a messy blue mop of hair. His face came into view; there were the slightest hint of bags under his eyes. "Are you ok? Can you see me? How many—"
"Grimmjow…shut the hell up," I mumbled. "I'm fine…I think." I looked around, searching for the other voice I heard. "Who else was here?"
"I was," Szayel voiced, entering the room as if on cue. "I'm just going to do a quick checkup and you'll be free to go."
"I can't remember…what happened to me yesterday?" I asked, a feeling of foreboding dawning over me.
"You fell into a deep slumber, very close to being in a comatose state," Szayel explained. "You've been asleep for approximately fourteen hours. We tried various methods of waking you up, but you didn't even twitch." I let his words sink in. Deep slumber…comatose…fourteen hours…didn't even twitch.
"How did this happen?" I asked.
"That's what we're trying to figure out," Grimmjow said. "You also fell asleep near the afternoon before that, but you woke up pretty quickly, immediately after I told you to."
"Did you do anything abrupt or out of the ordinary yesterday?" Szayel asked while checking my pulse, heartbeat and reflexes. A blush started to creep up my face at the remembrance of Grimmjow's actions fourteen hours ago.
"N-not much," I lied, turning my head to the side in a poor attempt to hide the reddish tinge of my cheeks. "I don't think your food tasted out of the the ordinary, either. In fact, it was extraordinary," I complimented him, pulling myself up and supporting myself on my elbows.
"Hmm, I think you might be onto something. The drastic change from the garbage that they usually serve you to the splendid dishes I made for our dinner have obvious difference in taste and ingredients," Szayel remarked, throwing in some narcissism. "That might've caused a disruption in your digestive system that triggered part of your nerve cells to tell your brain that you were sleepy."
"Wait…," I murmured, remembering my time with Ulquiorra yesterday; I then facepalmed myself rather loudly. "Crap."
"What did you just think of?" Grimmjow asked.
"I drank some of the water that was originally for Ulquiorra. Before either him or I had drank any of it, I'd put in some of the liquid in the vial Szayel gave me, and I probably drank some of it."
"Well, it all makes perfect sense now," Szayel stated. "While you two were having a drinking contest, I slipped in some anti-alcohol intoxication pills into your—"
"Anti- what?" Grimmjow inquired.
"Oh, Grimmjow," Szayel started, "you seriously need to pay more attention. They were pills that prevented the two of you from getting drunk. At first, I'd thought that they didn't work, but you both seemed to go from buzzed beyond reality to mellow, which took a huge weight off my chest as I realized that the pills just had a late reaction time." So that's why we weren't drunk anymore by the time we got back to Grimm's room, I thought. Wait…did I just call Grimmjow 'Grimm'?
Sounds kinda cute.
"Wait, when exactly did you insert those pills?" I asked.
"I believe it was before your fourth shot. I wouldn't consider your chalices shots, though, so if we had to convert I'd say it was the eighth." The numbers ticked off in my head.
"You're saying we drank fourteen shots of tequila yesterday?"
"That seems like…a lot," Grimmjow said, still processing the fact.
"Your body had a negative reaction from consuming two medications in one day; Ulquiorra's medication can't be taken with anything other than those pills you gave him within a twenty-four hour span."
"But that still doesn't explain why I suddenly grew drowsy in the afternoon," I reminded Szayel, who nodded in response.
"The most reasonable explanation I can come up with is this: the mere action of taking those pills was too much for your immune system to handle. You were never prescribed to Ulquiorra's medication in the first place, and it was your first time taking those kind of pills, I assume?" Szayel questioned. I nodded, him taking that as a signal to continue. "Well, that pretty much explains everything, anything else you're wondering about?"
"I think that's it," I replied. Szayel then proceeded to take my temperature and check my eyesight. I took a quick glance at Grimmjow after he was done, both of us making eye contact; but it seemed that he wasn't looking directly at me, more like he was looking through me.
"You should be a bit more aware of what you're doing, Alexia. I wouldn't want this to happen again, I don't know what'll become of you if this incident occurs one more time," Szayel said worriedly, although there was a scolding tone to it.
"I wouldn't want to find out," I said, slowly making my way off of the small cot I was situated on. I yawned loudly, drawing a surprised expression from Grimmjow.
"You've slept fourteen hours and you're still yawning?" he asked incredulously. "You turning into Stark now?"
"People yawn for reasons other than drowsiness, Grimmjow. It also helps with getting oxygen to refresh your brain," I informed him, hoping I worded that the right way.
"Well, sorry, Ms. Sleepyhead."
"Shut up," I snapped back at him. "We already know why that happened, unless you were being ignorant and didn't listen."
"If you two are going to argue, please do so outside of the lab, we have living organisms here, remember?" Szayel asked us, making us both instantly stop. I remembered the snat from two days ago and nearly ran off in search of it. "Ah, I suppose you're looking for the snat, correct?"
"Yeah," I replied briskly, whipping my head to my left and right, scoping the room to get a hold on my surroundings. Realizing that nothing looked familiar, I looked at Szayel, hoping he would give me some sort of clue.
"We're at the opposite side of the room, just go directly straight until you see a structure that looks like what you would call a lava lamp and go right a few feet. You can find your way from there."
"Thanks, Sza—"
"Wait, I'm going with," Grimmjow called out, running after me. "Just so that, um, I'll be there if something happens."
"Frankly, I might be in more danger if you're with me," I muttered, not sure if he heard me or not.
"Shut it, I'm just going so that you'll have company."
"I don't need your company."
"I do."
I fell silent, processing his words. "Well…if that's your real reason, then I guess it's alright. And don't say sentimental shit like that, I don't know how to take it."
"I'm not gonna just coop up all my feelings, I need to voice them, especially when I…ah…," he mumbled, a blush starting to form on his face. "You know."
"I definitely got the message yesterday," I reminded him, feeling a blush of my own on my cheeks, peeking at his expression. I couldn't tell if he was going to start crying or sneeze. Well, that was what it looked like, anyways. "If you're wondering, I'm not going to give you an answer right now."
"Why not?"
"Seriously, Grimmjow? I was in a half-coma, and you're worrying about what my answer is to your stupid question?" I regretted saying the last part right after I'd said it. I looked him in the eyes, giving him a silent apology. "But really, how was I supposed to think about your question when I wasn't even planning to fall asleep like that?"
"I was worried," he replied. "If I wasn't, do you think I wouldn't have stayed awake the rest of the day, waiting for you to wake up? I nearly had a heart attack when I saw you collapse like that." I stayed silent, our footsteps resonating as we walked towards our destination.
"Sorry, I didn't think about that," I admitted.
"It's ok," he accepted my apology, hesitantly taking my hand and holding it as we walked, my eyes widening a bit at his display of affection. Well, at least he didn't repeat yesterday, I thought to myself, feeling my blush grow. I pondered a minute before closing the space between us, allowing our shoulders to brush.
"I honestly don't know what to do about this," I said, holding our joined hands up a bit to show what I was talking about. "I've never been in a romantic relationship before, and I've never considered you anything more than a friend, but now that I think about it…I think we could…um, work something out…," I mumbled, not knowing how to go about telling him that I would be okay with going out with him.
"You're saying yes?" Grimmjow asked hopefully, stopping in his tracks to look intensely at my face, making me feel a trifle uncomfortable.
"Technically…"
"Just say yes, Alexia."
"…Yeah. I'm okay with, er, being in a relationship with y—" I didn't get to finish as Grimmjow threw me into a hug, squeezing the air out of my lungs as he pressed my face into his bare chest.
"Thank you," he murmured into my hair, squeezing me tighter. "Thank you so much. You won't regret this."
"I'm already regretting this," I gasped, pushing away from him and breathing deeply. I saw the confused and slightly hurt expression on his face and scoffed. "You didn't do anything wrong, but you were killing me in your massive hug."
"Oh. Sorry," he apologized sheepishly, scratching the back of his head and letting out a genuine smile, not one of his blinding grins. I smiled back, then looked at our surroundings. I squinted my eyes once an immense neon pink column came into view. Yep, definitely looks like a lava lamp, I thought. I then racked my brain, trying to remember what Szayel had said came after the lava lamp. "Uh, he did say to go right, right? Or was it left…?"
"Who's lost now?" Grimmjow teased.
"Shut it, I don't live here so I don't know my way around here yet."
"You sure have bad remembrance skills."
"I'm guessing you know the way, then."
"…"
"Exactly."
I heard something akin to a mewl and snapped my head in its direction. To the right, I remembered. I motioned for Grimmjow to follow and soon came to a more familiar part of the lab. My insides melted when I saw the snat. There might as well have been a sign above its head that flashed, I'm incredibly cute! Come admire me!
Admire I shall, I thought to myself, walking over to the display case as if in a trance and crouching down to eye level with it. The snat sat and then tilted its head to the side as if saying, 'What took you so long?'
"Woooooow," Grimmjow said, coming up behind me. "Do you really like it that much?"
"No."
"Then why—"
"I love it."
"Big difference," he grumbled. I glared at him, shaking my head in disapproval.
"There is a big difference. It's just like our situation," I explained. "Before, I liked you as a friend who I could count on. Now, I…um, well, I like you a lot more than I did before and consider you something more." I smirked when I saw him blush. "Don't tell me that Kit-Kat was jealous."
"No, I just…"
"Mmhmm," I murmured, sending the message that I wasn't going to believe him.
"Alright, so maybe I was…a little envious about you wanting to see that thing more than-ow! What was that for!?" He asked when I bonked him on the head.
"It's called a snat," I reminded him.
"Whatever." He was able to block my next strike, a punch to the chest. "You try that and you're going to break your arm."
"Yeah, yeah, but it'll be your fault for having such hard hierro."
"Alexia," Szayel appeared suddenly, making me jump. "We have to hurry. Please follow me." I hesitantly got up and started to go after him, Grimmjow behind me.
"What's wrong, Szayel?" Grimmjow asked.
"It's Ulquiorra."
"What happened?" I inquired, a feeling of panic starting to creep up on me, picking up my pace as we exited the lab and walked down the halls of Las Noches.
"The pills and liquid in the vial are supposed to be taken exactly every twenty-four hours. It's been twenty-four hours…plus another fifteen minutes. It may not seem like too much, but it's the prefect situation in which Ulquiorra's other persona can take control." I broke into a jog, almost a run at Szayel's words.
"Crap, you're saying that Ulquiorra could be overpowered right now?" Grimmjow hissed, also running with Szayel and I.
"Maybe even more than that."
Within a minute or two, we arrived at the espadas' dorms. I could see the cart down the hall, waiting to be taken in to Ulquiorra's room. Once in front of his door, I knocked hastily.
No answer.
"Ulquiorra?" Grimmjow and I asked in unison.
"We're going to have to enter, even if he answers or not," Szayel informed, pulling a string of keys from his pants' pocket. Scanning through them, he chose one and inserted it into the keyhole, turning to the left. "Ulquiorra…"
The moment Szayel opened the door, a massive amount of spiritual pressure was released, making me fall onto my knees. My breaths turned into short pants and coughs, not being able to withstand the power radiating from Ulquiorra's room. I felt two strong arms lift me up and carry me away, lessening the feeling of being compressed into a 2-dimensional outline of me.
After I felt the person who carried me stop, I regained a sense of composure and looked around to find out where I was. I was once again in Grimmjow's room, the layout of his furniture reminding me from yesterday.
"Are you ok?" Grimmjow asked, laying me down on his bed and putting a hand to my forehead. "You're burning up."
"Don't worry," I assured him. "I'm fine right now, but before…it felt like I was being crushed."
"Yeah, that was Ulquiorra's spiritual pressure, and I don't think that was all of it. I'm surprised you didn't pass out."
"Is he really that powerful?" I asked. "It seems impossible to get any stronger than that." I noticed a bit of sweat near the top of Grimmjow's forehead. "Even you were struggling."
"Yeah, well, I hate to admit it, but he is the fourth espada. He doesn't have that rank for nothing…but I'd love to see what would happen if we fought all-out to the—"
"You're not going to even try anything like that," I scolded him. "You'd probably get your ass beaten."
"Sounds like you're convinced I'm going to die."
"I am."
"Tch, why don't you have any confidence in me?" he asked playfully, ruffling my hair. "Remember, I'm your warden, I have to protect you now. If you don't believe in me, that's basically saying that you're ready to die." His hand that was previously caressing the long locks of my hair snaked down to cup my cheek. He leaned forward and planted a kiss on it, making my heart rate just about triple. "I don't want you to die," he whispered into my ear.
"Y-you're acting all soft all of a sudden, you don't have to be like this," I commented, not resisting him.
"I want to be like this."
"…I thought you'd say that." He pulled away and crawled behind me, seating me in his lap and making me lean against him. We enjoyed the calm quiet of the room and our breathing. Turning my face to the side, I heard a soft thumping sound coming from Grimmjow's chest. His heart, I thought. I remembered how I'd attempted to find Ulquiorra's physical heart yesterday, and failed (just saying, you know?). Ulquiorra…what were my feelings for him now?
"Grimmjow, Alexia. You can tend to Ulquiorra now, I— well, what do we have here?" Szayel inquired mischievously. I jumped away from Grimmjow, a giant blush spreading over my cheeks at the discovery of our actions.
"W-we were j-just…um, we w-were—" I stammered.
"I kissed her," Grimmjow admitted matter-of-factly. I whipped my head around and glared at him in embarrassment. "Then I hugged her. I was about to—"
"Shut up!" I interrupted, lunging forward and covering his mouth with my hand, all the blood in my body rushing to my head as I felt him smirk, then kiss my hand. "How can you speak so easily about this kind of stuff?"
"First of all," Grimmjow mumbled, licking my hand and making me yelp in surprise and disgust, "I don't see a problem with what we're doing. Second, Szayel already knew about my feelings for you." I wiped my hand on my sweatpants and looked at Szayel in surprise.
"You already knew…?"
"That's right," Szayel admitted. "I actually detected Grimmjow's feelings for you before he himself did. I chose to not tell you purely out of my own decision. I think it was the third day that you were settled in that I told him, and by the sixth he'd accepted his feelings. But, Alexia, you also have your own inner turmoils about your feelings, do you not?" I felt as if I was being turned inside out. How does Szayel know all this? I mentally asked myself.
"You're right. I'm not exactly sure how to go about this, but I at least decided that I'd go one step at a time. I really need to sort some shit out," I resented.
"Ah, you should probably go see Ulquiorra now, he's been waiting; I gave him some sleeping pills, so they should be going into affect in about 10 minutes."
"What about his spiritual pressure?" I asked, afraid to find out what would happen if I had to face that feeling again.
"I've given him something that almost completely compresses his spiritual pressure, so you shouldn't feel a thing," he assured me, walking towards me and pulling a hand out to help me up. Glancing back at Grimmjow, he released me from his embrace and I took Szayel's hand, lifted myself up and headed out into the hall.
"I'll see you later, Grimm," I said, testing out the small name I'd given him. I smiled when I saw a slight blush appear on his face.
"See ya, Alexia."
I walked down the hall, pondering over all the crazy shit that happened in the span of two days. I wonder if things can get any more dramatic…
"Alexia, are you planning on visiting Halibel instead?" Szayel teased. I realized I had completely forgotten where I was going and passed Ulquiorra's room. I walked back hastily. "You have about ten minutes to get him to take his medications; please do that first and chat with him after. If you can't get him to take them I'll have to inject them into him while he's dormant."
"I understand," I responded monotonously, hesitating a moment before turning the knob of his door and going inside, pushing the cart along with me.
The atmosphere felt as if it was struggling against something, fighting some invisible enemy. I saw Ulquiorra in the same spot as yesterday, in his bed.
Not completely naked, thank god.
I didn't know whether I should've broken the silence, so I got the glass of water and found the small vial of neon pink liquid in a drawer on the side of,the cart. Carefully, I proceeded in inserting three drops into his drink, mentally reminding myself to not drink any of it.
"Have I hurt you?" Ulquiorra suddenly spoke up. I glanced at him and didn't answer. "I asked you a question, woman."
"Bossy," I said.
"That isn't an answer to my question."
"I know that," I argued. "I…well, I felt like I was being crushed, but I wasn't hurt. Why would you care, anyways?" Was it just me, or was I being a little harsh with him?
"I was only wondering, and is it a bad thing to ask about someone's health?" he responded.
"I guess not."
"Are you going to make me take that again?" he asked in disgust, already knowing the answer.
"How about this: as compensation for making me feel like I was being turned into a piece of paper, you have to take your medications," I compromised. He half glared/stared at me, telling me he didn't like this one bit but would do it just because he would make it up to me by doing so. I handed him his drink, then got the bottle of pills and handed him four. Giving a small sigh, he put the pills into his mouth and then took a huge gulp of water. I walked over to the cart and gave him his food; they were some leftovers from the feast yesterday, including…white rice.
I glanced at Ulquiorra. He was currently drinking the rest of his drink, apparently not looking in my direction. In the blink of an eye, I popped some rice into my mouth. I nearly died. So damn goooood, I inwardly sighed.
"What are you doing?"
Shit, shit, shit!
"Um…I wanted to see if the food was still good for you to eat. I wouldn't want you to, ah, get more sick than you already are because the food was rotten or anything." That's such a stupid excuse, Alexia, I told myself.
"I see," he accepted with reluctance. I took the plate and handed it to him. I looked for silverware but instead found chopsticks. "What are those?"
"They're chopsticks. They're used to eat this kind of food," I explained, pointing to the rice, several yakitori sticks and a small bowl or ramen. "Do you know how to use them?" Ulquiorra shook his head. "Um, so, you position them like this, and put your fingers like this so that they can make a pinching action, and—you don't get any of what I'm saying, do you?" once again, he shook his head. "Here," I said, using the chopsticks to pick up some rice and and held it up to his mouth. I resisted the urge to say, open wide!
Yeah, not a good idea. Just because he was sick didn't mean that he couldn't use cero.
He opened his mouth, revealing teeth just about as white as Grimmjow's, although not as big and definitely not maniac-grin material. I carefully inserted the chopsticks into his mouth, watching intently as he closed his mouth and chewed thoroughly, savoring the taste of the rice. "Why does this taste different than the food from yesterday?" he asked.
Cause this food doesn't suck.
"This food was made differently, I guess. The food they usually serve doesn't have a lot of sauce or seasoning. It doesn't even look like something edible," I commented. "I swear, whoever cooks the food around here seriously need to learn how to cook before they go around making people nauseous and sick with their creations." I heard Ulquiorra mumble something I couldn't hear. "What was that?"
"I…"
"You agree?" I proposed.
"No…well, I do agree, but…"
"What is it, Ulqui-cielago?"
"I cook the food."
Holy. Fucking. Crap.
"Oh." That was all I managed to say in my stupor. "Well…um…"
"You do not need to explain anything, woman. After all, it is your honest opinion," he said. He fell silent and suddenly yawned. Oh my god, that's too cute! I internally screamed. "Is there something wrong?"
"No, just that, well, I don't think I've ever seen you yawn before," I explained. "Honestly, I thought you looked sorta cute."
"Cute?" I thought I'd struck a nerve, but by the look of surprise and embarrassment on his face I knew it wasn't that. "I am anything but that, woman."
"Oh, really?" I prodded, going into teasing mode. "Then I guess you're hideous."
"I am not that either," he argued. I noticed his eyes were lidded. Ten minutes, I thought. Time must be running out.
"We'll continue this later, Ulqui-cielago," I informed him, "but right now you're pretty much going to literally fall asleep." I took his plate of food and noticed he didn't eat any of it except for the bit I gave him. Oh well. I'd just eat it instead. My mouth watered at the thought. "I'll see you later, 'kay?"
Silence.
"Ulquiorra?" I turned to face him, finding him fast asleep, his chest rising and lowering in a steady pattern. His face looked at peace, not bored or annoyed with the rest of the world. I smiled.
"You done yet?" I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard Grimmjow's voice grumble into my right ear.
"Yeah, I was just watching…?" I looked at Grimmjow and saw an obvious scowl on his face. "Really, Grimmjow? You're jealous, aren't you?"
"N-no…"
"Uh-huh," I said sarcastically. "I guess you're mad at Ulquiorra for falling asleep, then. He must be immortal."
"I was gonna tell him something, but not the fucker went and decided to take a catnap—well, it's true," he agreed when I glared at him. I shook my head.
"You do know that this's going to come back and bite you in the ass, right?" I reminded him.
"Whatever. Let's go," he said. We left and headed back to my room, both of us silent.
Someone just had to interrupt, though.
"Leeeeexiiii," a certain annoying-ass, prissy, bitchy—let's not continue. Nnoitora drawled my nickname out, just coming out from his own room, shirtless. I vaguely remembered the events from two days ago and subconsciously edged nearer to Grimmjow, snaking a hand behind him and clutching at his jacket. "Cowering behind your boyfriend?" he teased. If you only knew, I thought.
"Leave us alone, Spoon," I responded, standing a little straighter when I neared him, as if that was going to make me seven feet tall, like he was. "Don't you have something to do?"
"Nope."
"Master Nnoitora—ah." Tesla appeared in the doorway, his face flushed. His hair also seemed more ruffled and out of place. I noticed that his outfit looked like someone had pulled on it in an attempt to rip it off. "Um…"
"Well, well," I snickered. "You do have something—sorry, someone—you should be tending to right now, don't you? Better hurry, don't wanna keep him waiting." Nnoitora's face turned red with anger and embarrassment.
"You—you fuckin' bi—," he started.
"Sorry, that's Tesla," Grimmjow chimed in, smirking. We broke off into a run once Nnoitora ran into his room and came back out with his sword in tow. "Can you stand it if I use sonido?" Grimmjow asked me.
"As long as we lose sight of him, yeah. I'm okay with it," I consented. We slowed down and Grimmjow picked me up bridal style. This time I didn't complain. We sonidoed about four or five times before Nnoitora's yells could no longer be heard. I felt a trifle more proud of myself when I didn't become nauseous. I realized that we, coincidentially, had arrived right at my room. I hopped out of Grimmjow's arms and ran inside, beckoning for him to come in too.
"Tch, I don't need to hide from him," he boasted. "I can take him on just fine. Watch me, I'm gonna kick his—" We heard Nnoitora's voice yell something that sounded like either 'where the fuck did you go!?' or 'water falling on yogurt'.
…Probably the first one. I wasn't even sure how I'd come up with the second. Grimmjow ran inside my room as if the devil was chasing after him, slamming the door shut behind him. We were both grinning like maniacs.
"So…about taking him on—" I started.
"Shut up."
"Whatever, Grimm, whatever," I said, shrugging casually. I sighed and looked around. I almost didn't notice how close Grimmjow was to me until he put an arm around my shoulders, pulling me towards him. I obliged, letting myself sink in his embrace. "Grimm…"
"You need to stop calling me that," he informed me.
"Why?"
"Cause…when you call me that, I can't constrain myself." I was confused for a split second before he clashed our lips together. My innards were melting at the feel of his lips on mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer until our bodies were flushed together. We stopped for a second to catch our breaths, staring into each others' eyes. A warm feeling flooded over me and I pulled away, heading to the bed before flopping on it and laying down, sighing contentedly. "You okay?" Grimmjow asked me.
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"Well, you just backed out of a kiss."
"I didn't back out, I just decided that enough was enough."
"Hm."
"What?"
"Are you scared?" Grimmjow mocked, sneering at me.
"No, why would I…? Am I supposed to be scared?" I asked.
"You look like it."
"Well, I'm not."
"Suuure, you aren't." I glared at him. "I've been leading all these kisses and you've only been following. If I didn't know better I'd say that you were afraid of kissing me."
"Wanna find out?" I challenged. I lunged toward him and gave him a hug before looking him in the eyes and lifting myself up slowly, gradually making my way to his lips…
And stopped.
I couldn't do it. No, more like I wouldn't; there was a small voice telling me to just do it, but there was an even louder voice yelling at me to stop.
"What's wrong?" Grimmjow asked, his voice tinged with curiosity. I backed off, fiddling with a strand of hair that fell in front of my face.
"Um…" What was I supposed to say? Oh, a voice in my head is telling me to not kiss you, so I'm just going to listen to that voice, 'kay? "I'm just sorta confused about how—" I was cut off with a quick and soft kiss, completely shutting me up.
"You talk too much," Grimmjow murmured. "It's almost dinner time; you slept though breakfast." As if on cue, my stomach growled. I heard an amused snicker and blushed.
"I can't help it if I'm hungry," I mumbled, taking a seat at the table. "Hey, how can you tell what time it is around here?"
"I'm not sure. I think it's just something hollows have, so you probably can't tell what time it is," Grimmjow replied, walking over to the door and cracking it open a bit, peeking around to see if Nnoitora was lurking in the hallways.
I wouldn't be surprised if he was.
"I'll be right back, okay? Don't go anywhere," Grimmjow advised me, apparently thinking I was a five-year-old.
"Right, because I'm purposely going to escape and get lost just so that I can wander around for the next few hours. I mean, really, Nnoitora would be able to find me by the growls of my stomach." Grimmjow cracked a smile.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll be back."
I smiled to myself once he closed the door, getting up and crawling onto my bed. I stared at the ceiling and sighed contentedly. "Being in love…is this what it feels like?" I asked myself. The way my heart raced when Grimmjow's eyes locked onto mine and the way I melted into his touch whenever he caressed me.
Not to mention his kisses pretty much sent me into cardiac arrest.
But when I'd attempted to kiss him…I'd doubted my actions. Why? That was what I was currently breaking my head over. I started to bite my nails, a bad habit of mine, as I pondered over possible reasons for my hesitation. Fear, doubt, confusion, panic, intimidation, the list was endless. I sighed once again. I've been doing that way too much lately, I thought.
"Baaaaaack," Grimmjow's voice rang out as he entered, carrying a drink I couldn't identify and two plates of food covered by a napkin. "Bet you're feeling like a queen right now, huh?"
For a split second I could imagine Grimmjow in a suit, his chest actually covered for once. It actually seemed similar to his appearance in the fourth popularity poll, in which he'd gotten fourth place.
Oh god, I sound like such a geek.
"Yep," I agreed. "And you're my butler."
"Then who's your knight in shining armor?" he asked mischievously, raising a hand when I started to get up, telling me to stay there. "Is there someone better at kissin' ya than me?" I blushed profusely. "I'll take that as a no, then."
I huffed and said, "Just gimme the food already."
"Someone's bossy."
"Correction: someone's hungry."
"Can't argue with that," he agreed, getting the pillows on my bed and stacking them on the headboard, then telling me to lay on them as support. Once I was situated where he wanted me, he unfolded a tray much like the ones at hospitals and put it on my lap. He then proceeded to place two plates of food on the tray and the mystery drink on it. Taking a close-up look at my drink, it looked like something akin to 7up or Sprite. He flicked the napkins off of the plates to reveal a plate that looked like a replica of Ulquiorra's food. The other had small pieces of cake and other sweets. "It didn't look like anything on Ulquiorra's plate was eaten, so I decided to use that, and I found these pastries."
"…food," was the only thing I managed to say before stuffing myself with white rice, although using chopsticks wasn't the best way to do that. I stopped once I saw Grimmjow staring at me. "Well, I was hungry…and you know I love white rice…" My expression changed from embarrassed to confused as Grimmjow gently took my chopsticks out of my hands. Once I saw him reaching out and trying to grab some rice with them, I quickly shielded the rice with my hands and blocked him.
"Really, Alexia?" he asked incredulously. "I wasn't going to eat it, I was just—"
"If you aren't going to eat my food, then what are you going to do? Eat the chopsticks? You must be desperate to—hm?" I was responded to with a quick swat to my hands and a mouthful of rice in my mouth.
"Thought ya might want some help," Grimmjow smirked, holding the chopsticks currently in my mouth. My eyes widened as I realized that he was feeding me, my skin turning into a ripe tomato.
"S-stop being such a damn flirt," I murmured, eating the rice and taking my mouth off the chopsticks. "Can't I eat in peace?"
"Nah."
"Bastard."
"Cutie."
"Fucker."
"You bet I am." That only made me blush harder, shoving him away as he laughed at me.
"Perv," I muttered, grabbing my chopsticks and continuing to eat while keeping out an eye for Grimmjow's perverse behavior. He got up and walked around, scoping my room. He stopped at the heart I'd painted two days ago with the words 'Ulquiorra's heart' on it.
"When did this appear…?" he asked.
"Oh, I did that the same day we painted," I explained. "Turns out Ulquiorra was helping out with the paint job instead of terminating it."
"Oh."
"You are extremely jealous today," I noted, munching on yakitori. "Don't you understand that I'm with you, not Ulquiorra?" After finishing the yakitori I started on the ramen. I wondered how I could have overlooked these other choices of Asian cuisine. I almost forgot that Grimmjow was there but was reminded when he was suddenly right in front of my face, staring at me intently. "What the hell?"
"I love you."
Wait, wait, wait…what in the fuck!? I screamed. "Ah, um…I…uh…," I tried to form a response but found myself not knowing what to say. "Y-you've made it obvious enough." It sucked, but it was the only thing I could think of.
"Yeah, and I'm about to make it obvious again," he murmured, leaning in closer and making me panic.
"Wait, all the plates and everything are still on the bed," I reminded him. His expression turned to annoyance once he realized I was right and quickly retreated the tray and its contents off of the bed before going back to his current activity, leaning over my seated form and softly pressing our lips together. We went slow, up until I felt his tongue run along my lips. Remembering from yesterday, I knew he wanted to…to, well…
Put his tongue inside my mouth. It sounded a bit weird; as I'd said before, this was my first time in a romantic relationship with anyone. Just the concept of it was a bit strange, but I certainly didn't have a problem with it yesterday. And I already knew that this was French kissing, considered a normal type of kissing (how many types were there?), so there wasn't anything too out of the ordinary. I stopped for a moment before opening my mouth, feeling his tongue invade. I was extremely thankful that his tongue wasn't anywhere as long as Nnoitora's. After getting used to the feeling, I started to respond, mingling my tongue with his as if we were battling or arguing.
"Feisty, aren't you?" Grimmjow murmured against my lips, pulling back. I barely managed to contain the whine that threatened to escape my lips at the loss of contact. Before he could get off the bed, I wrapped my arms around his neck and pecked his cheek chastely.
"Grimmjow…"
"Yeah?"
"I have something to ask you," I told him. I saw his expression go from slightly aroused to confused as I let go of his neck.
"What is it?"
"It's about your hollow hole," I said, tracing the edge of it with my index finger, making him gasp lightly.
"D-don't do that," he advised me, hastily grabbing my wrist and pulling it away from his hole.
"I don't get how you can eat," I said, ignoring him. "I mean, you have a mouth, intestines and esophagus but no stomach; it completely defies logic, yet you eat as if there's no hole in you."
"I don't know either," Grimmjow admitted. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.
"You've never wondered where all that shit you eat goes?"
"…No."
"Geez, Grimm, you're so ignorant sometimes," I scolded him.
"Well, as long as I can eat, I don't need to know how it works," he argued.
"Ah, speaking of food, where are those pastries you found?" I asked, craning my head and locating the plates and tray on the table. I tried to get up myself and retrieve them but Grimmjow pushed me back down onto the bed and got them instead. "Why didn't you let me get up?"
"I wanted to get them for you," he explained. He grabbed a small chunk of cake and held it up to my lips, me glaring at him before reluctantly eating it.
"You're making me feel like a lazy-ass," I commented, "what with you not wanting me to move at all and stay in bed all day." I flicked my tongue out and licked off some of the frosting that had been smeared on my bottom lip. My eyes widened when I saw Grimmjow staring intently, biting his bottom lip and blushing a bit while watching. "Why, you fucking pervert!"
"Well, how was I supposed to react!?" he defended himself.
"Either way, you're too sick for you're own good," I said, getting a small brownie and taking a bite out of it, almost getting a bit of it on my clothes when I tasted melted chocolate on the inside of it. Dark chocolate, I took note of the type. My favorite. But I instead decided to not hoard it all, so I gave the other half to Grimmjow, holding it to his lips like he had mine. He smirked before consuming the rest of the treat so fast I thought he might've bitten my thumb and index finger off as well, which were the fingers imwasmusing to hold the brownie.
"That was good," he stated, kissing my still outstretched hand. "It's pretty late, you should sleep."
"Really?" I asked. It was one of those days where the hours passed incredibly fast. "Around what time is it in the human world?"
"Well, I can't say for sure…," he started, both of us getting off of the bed so I could undo the sheets of the bed and spread the pillows out, "but I think it's almost midnight over there." I looked down at what I was wearing and sighed.
"Why didn't you tell me I've been wearing the same clothes for a whole day?" I scolded him, putting a hand on my hip. "I feel awfully dirty now." I ran off into the bathroom and quickly washed my face, deeming it appropriate for now, and I'd just have to shower in the morning. I brushed my teeth with the small white toothbrush on the corner of the sink and came out a few minutes later, feeling a little more fresh.
"What the hell just happened with your voice just now?" Grimmjow wondered, making me blush. And I thought I'd had my accent under control, I thought.
"I-i'm British."
"…The hell does that mean?" I facepalmed. My skull's seriously gonna break one of these days.
"I sorta forgot that you don't know the human world too well. Hm, let's put it this way…you know how there are different territories in different places, and each territory has a history and traits of its own?" I saw him nod and continued. "There's a crapload of territories in the world of the living, called countries. The one I used to live in, Great Britain, one of their traits is that they have a certain way of speaking. Well, I lived there for the majority of my life, but I moved to a different country for five years and kind of lost my accent, but apparently it's not completely gone."
"Sound nice."
"Thanks."
"A bit sexy, too," he grinned his famous grin and ruffled my hair while I scowled in embarrassment. This's why I don't use that voice anymore. "You should use that more often, but only for me," he whispered into my ear, then proceeded to fold the overs back so I could crawl in. After a bit of reluctance I eventually did, and he climbed in with me, holding me close to him and letting out a content breath. "I lo—"
"Shut it, Grimm. I know, and…I…" I suddenly felt awkward. I didn't know why it was so hard for me to respond; but the question was…did I love him? "Grimmjow, I—"
"You don't have to tell me right now," he said, detecting a bit of sorrow in his voice. "I just want you to know that I'm certain of my feelings."
"…"
"I'll stay with you until you fall asleep, don't worry. Go to sleep, Alexia," Grimmjow murmured, pressing a kiss to my forehead and embracing me tighter. "I'll see you in the morning." I snuggled up against his chest. I'm not sure if he heard my words before I fell into slumber.
"I think I love you, too."
._.–._.–_.–._.–._.–._.–._.–._.–._.–._.–._.–.
Me: (Jamming to Gangnam Style)
Alexia, Grimmjow, Ulquiorra: O.o
Me: ^_^' Oh yeah, the chapter ended.
Alexia: o.O' No shit. That was one crazy dance.
Grimmjow: I have never seen anything as stupid and—
Me: Fun?
Grimmjow: Crazy—as that.
Ulquiorra: I must admit that that was…out of the ordinary.
Me: :D But it's fun, regardless.
Grimmjow: T_T Whatever
Alexia: Hey, what happened to Gin?
(All turn around and see Gin dancing to Gangnam style)
All Except Ulquiorra: Ō.Ō
Ulquiorra: Seeing as I am the only one who has their senses, I shall be the one to inform you: if you would, please voice your comments, concerns and opinions in the small box at the bottom of the page.
Me: Yeah, and maybe you'll see Ulqui-cielago dancing next :3
Ulquiorra: T_T Don't count on it.